ENN rounds up the most important and compelling environmental news stories of the week. In the news April 30th - May 4th: A U.S. air pollution report, a new ESA interpretation, a boost for green power, a honeybee die-off, and much more.
Top Ten Articles of the Week
In the news April 30th - May 4th: A U.S. air pollution report, a new ESA interpretation, a boost for green power, a honeybee die-off, and much more.
1. U.S. Air Pollution: Less Smog, but More Soot in East
The United States is less smoggy than it used to be, but dangerous soot particles are rising in the densely populated eastern part of the country, the American Lung Association reported Tuesday. In its annual State of the Air report, the group applauded reductions in smog since its peak in 2002, and blamed the rise in soot -- also called particle pollution -- on coal-fired power plants in the East.
2. Interior Secretary Says U.S. Must Focus on Preventing Species from Becoming Endangered
The U.S. interior secretary defended a new policy that makes it harder to list disappearing species as endangered, saying on Friday the government needs to focus less on lists and more on helping wildlife populations rebuild and stay strong. "I think we need to put greater emphasis on recovery and efforts in that direction," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told reporters in Australia, adding that only one percent of the 1,500 species listed as endangered in the past 30 years had recovered.
3. Germany in Losing Battle To Save Last Glacier
The winds are cold at any time of the year on Germany's highest mountain but the country's last glacier is melting away despite Herculean efforts to counter the effects of climate change. Spreading giant anti-glare shields over the glacier each April after piling tonnes of loose snow upon it, workers at the Zugspitezebahn cable car operator are fighting a losing battle to keep their glacier alive -- for business and ecology reasons.
4. Senate Panel OKs Bill To Increase Green U.S. Power
The U.S. Senate may vote later this month on an energy bill that would by 2020 require that 15 percent of U.S. electricity be produced by renewable sources such as wind and solar. The same bill would require 10 percent of federal power purchases to be produced by "green" methods by 2010.
5. Arctic Leaders Blame Warming for Wolves, Suicide
Global warming sent marauding wolves into an Alaskan hamlet, killed Norwegian reindeer with unlikely parasites and may even spur suicide among Inuit youth, Arctic leaders said. As scientists and government officials in Bangkok put the finishing touches on a report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on what to do about global warming, the three Arctic emissaries came to Washington to tell how the phenomenon was making their lives more difficult now.
6. Miracle-Gro Sues Small N.J. Organic Plant-Food Maker
The makers of garden products Miracle-Gro and TerraCycle are as different as mature plants and seedlings. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. is a $7 billion global business with broad brand recognition, a 59 percent market share, and Roman columns framing the entry to its corporate headquarters. TerraCycle Inc. is a fledging startup with $1.5 million in annual sales, an infinitesimal share of the market, and a graffiti-covered warehouse with used tires on the lawn where the rose bushes were before someone stole them out of the ground.
7. Rio Grande Valley Border Fence Real, Not Virtual
A new map showing President George W. Bush's planned border fence has riled Rio Grande Valley officials, who say the proposed barrier reneges on assurances that the river would remain accessible to farmers, wildlife and recreation. City officials in the heavily populated valley had anticipated a "virtual" fence of surveillance cameras and border patrols.
8. Interior Expands Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling off Alaska, Virginia and in Gulf
The Interior Department announced a major expansion of offshore oil and gas development Monday with proposed lease sales covering 48 million new acres off Alaska, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and in the central Atlantic off Virginia. The 3 million acres that are 50 miles off Virginia's coast would require Congress to lift a long-standing drilling moratorium that has covered most ocean waters outside the western Gulf of Mexico for decades.
9. Honeybee Die-Off Threatens Food Supply
Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet. Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have. Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers.
10. Australian Farmers Wrestle Dingo Threat
Between grey granite mountains and drought-ravaged farms is a strip called the "militarised zone", the frontline of a battle between farmers and environmentalists over the survival of Australia's dingo. "In that zone no dog may live. It gets killed if it gets in that place," says senior parks ecologist Don Fletcher, bluntly laying bare the strategy to protect vulnerable sheep grazing flocks from Australia's top predator.
Photo: Red-eared Sliders. Photo credit: Gary M. Stolz/Washington DC Library/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
